I fell!

hi

my mom had a fall after her masectomy. she fell on that side when she was getting out of the bath tub. she was sooo sore. for a while.  i hate you fell . god bless 

I was fine and great after chemo.

It is Femara which is killin' me (Dengue Fever).It makes me dizzy for one SE.I fell last winter.

I was taking my walk.It wasnt icy.I raised my head (from watching my step, to look in Macy's window), got dizzy, lost my balance, couldnt regain it, fell right in the street like a sack of potatoes.

My big Femara belly kept my face from hitting the ground, so THAT'S why they give us these things.I was so embarrassed, and here come all these post Christmas shoppers running to help me.I scrambled up faser than I ever have, and was away!

And since it was winter, I didnt get banged up as I would have if I had summer clothes on.

Still wasnt fun, and  I learned that if you're on AI, and get dizzy, dont try to act like a normal person.Stagger, grab something,know that on AI all bets are off and you WILL fall!

I feel a few days after my abdominal hysterectomy and saw stars! From one 43 to another, I feel your pain. I fall a few times a year, which I attribute to fibromayalgia (whether or not that's true it feels better to me than saying because I'm getting old).

Do I have a fall story for you!  It was two weeks after finishing radiation.
I was babysitting my sisters dog and let her dog and mine into the back
yard.
 I did not realize that the grass cutters had been there and did not close
the gate when they left.  I caught the open gate out of the corner of my eye and raced over the grass to shut it.

I went flat down on my face.  As I was in the backyard no one could see me.  In incredible pain I could not move and lay there for over two hours when my neighbor spotted me.

But, the dogs would not let him come near me (killer bichons????).
Fortunately, my sister came a few minutes later and somehow they manage to get me to the E.R. (Heres a tip ---never go to an inner city hospital if you can help it---)  They triaged me to the end of the line behind all the gun shot wounds and heart attacks----But they were willing and wanting to give me a tetanus shot right away.

I begged my sister to get me the heck out of there and so we did to the next E.R. where my screaming in pain was attended to promptly.

They gave me something for the pain and got me into ex-ray.  They told me I had dislocated my shoulder and tore the rotator cuff.  So, there they were-- pulling on the arm trying to get it back in!!!!------What someone didn't see however was that I had four broken bones in my shoulder going into my chest!!!  You can imagine it did not go back into the socket!  I was admitted.

Now I see the surgeon who tells me the breaks are too severe to be repaired and I would need a shoulder replacement--but they could not operate right away because they needed to order parts. A little more
Dilaudid please.

After a long recuperation and rehabilitation---I was finally ready for discharge---But I was complaining about my hand being numb.  They said if it continued I'd get an EMG in three months.  So, I continued
rehab at home. And over the weeks and months an incredible stabbing, fiery,  crazy pain  took over  my  hand,--So in addition to the
pain in the arm---I had a hand that made the upper arm look minuscule on the pain scale.

Well the EMG showed that I had a Brachial plexus stretch, brachialplexapathy and some rare thing I'd never heard of called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy  (RSD or CRPS for short) which I have been fighting ever since.

The Orthopedic Surgeon seemed to think that Chemo gave me brittle
bones which resulted in the severity of the breaks.

I spent a year in Physical Therapy trying to get some use of the arm
and I tried to do my medical billing job out of my house.---I gave up being the office manager. 

Anyway, I needed to get some of my supplies from the office, so I
drove in  and parked in the ally  behind the office in the worst crime ridden neighborhood you could imagine.

Well you guessed it ---down I went again on some broken up paving-
Same arm accept since I couldn't put my arm out to break the fall---My elbow took the brunt of the fall---and again I was trapped
where I couldn't be seen---Although, I was terrified of who would see
me. 
This time though I had a cell phone and was able to call into the office
and the Doctors came running out to get me.

This time I smashed my Olecronon to bits and again more hardware and again the surgeon said it was crazily severe and warranted a biopsy  while they were doing the surgery-- NED as  it was the first time.  All the Physical Therapy progress undone.  Another year of physical therapy, and then a discharge because no further improvement could be anticipated.  There is a delicate balance going on between trying to get some use of the arm and hand and not flaring the RSD.  I'm holding my own for the time being.

This is a cautionary tale.  I was not on Femara at the time.  But, I was debilitated from treatment..  I've since been put on a plethora
of medication, all of which affect balance...... 

So I step gingerly these days.  I always keep my cell phone charged.
Even if I take the trash out, the cell phone is attached to me--on an
elastic band around my waist   There are some things that I can never take for granted again.-------New realities------sigh

Take care All,